Little Bites 8/17-8/24

Aloha, Shred Town

We love seeing our Bend small businesses grow, and that is exactly what is happening to Kurt Voorhees' food cart, Shred Town. Located outside of Aspect Boards & Brews on NW Galveston, now Voorhees is able to expand his business. Where? To Hawaii.

Kona, on the Big Island, is an even bigger vacation destination than Bend. (Hard to imagine, I know.) The Kona cart is expected to open mid-November, but first it's being custom-built on the mainland. "I could have it built there, but then that'd take about a month to do and that's a month of sales gone," says Voorhees. He and his business partner for the Kona cart, Tyler Brown, will be switching duties every few months. One will be running the cart here while the other is in Kona.

Meanwhile, the cart in Bend will be closed for a couple of months starting in November while the owners get all set up in their new sunny spot. Naturally, we will be eager for them to open her back up. So with that we say, "Aloha," which can mean both hello and goodbye.

Food Carts in the Box Factory Must Move

Yep. Sad, but true. Come October the three food carts that are currently stationed in the Box Factory's lot will have to find a new place to do business. The Blackened Dragon and Curry Shack arrived near the end of April of this year and Curb B Q followed a short time after that. Nick Ragazzo, owner of The Blackened Dragon (a fusion cart specializing in Cajun and Asian flavors) isn't sure where he will be settling this time. Having only been in the food cart business for about six months, and at the Box Factory for roughly three, he isn't stoked about having to pack up his pans again. "I'm not happy about moving, we finally are starting to get busy," says Ragazzo—who informed the Source of this change.

Colin Stephens, planning manager for the City of Bend, says that although the owners of the building, Killian Pacific, do not have the proper permits for that section of the lot, they can certainly obtain them.